Really Cool Stuff

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SPECIAL EVENT: 30 years and going strong!

7/18/2008 by De Doc | No comments

The Los angeles chapter of the National Space Society, OASIS, is hosting a reception this Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM to mark the 30th Anniversary of the chapter. The reception will be at the
Western Museum of Flight at Torrance Airport.

Tickets are $25. Tickets can be purchased at the door, but we’d like a good count for the catering.

Tickets may be ordered by mail by sending a check to:

OASIS
PO Box 1231
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

To make reservations and pay at the door, call the OASIS Hot Line at
310-364-2290.

What: OASIS 30th Anniversary Celebration
Where: Western Museum of Flight
           Torrance Airport
           3315 Airport Drive,
           Hanger Red Baron #3
          Torrance, CA 90505
When: Saturday July 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Tickets: $25/person

The timing of my recent trip didn’t allow me to make this event, but I hope that some of my Angeleno friends can make the trip; it would be another great way to celebrate Tranquility Day.

A Rocky Mountain, WMA, PSA

5/12/2008 by De Doc | 1 comment

From Roger Siggs:

“… As of 2:15pm, May the 6th, the Rocky Mountain Swordplay Guild and Shugyo Martial Arts have a new practice location that is exclusively ours! Located at 10600 W 50th Ave, Unit 10 in Wheat Ridge, CO, this gives us over 2000 square feet of open floor to train on, coupled with 16ft ceilings leaving us plenty of space for whatever weapons one might wish to use- from Unarmed to Pole Weapons (even on someone else’s shoulders if we wanted to!).

A few pictures are available here:
http://www.rockymountainswordplayguild.com/home/site.html …”

I might just have to go train there soon.

BOY, Is It Raining Soup…

4/13/2008 by De Doc | No comments

Maybe so.

Not only is there now the possibility of extremely efficient solar cells — like “can even collect ambient light energy at night” efficient — but there’s a team which is exploring the direct conversion of radiation into electricity.

I’m a doctor, not a physicist; but the article suggests that process might be efficient enough to recover useful amounts of power even from nuclear waste.

Both technologies are far from commercial use. But none of the technical problems discussed in the articles appear to require a leap of genius-level insight. Engineering and refinement, not fundamental discovery…

The potential is breathtaking.

High Good Spirits

7/15/2006 by De Doc | No comments

It’s hard not to worry about the ominous news from the Middle East.

But even in these times, there’s wonderful things afoot… afloat? In orbit, certainly.

By all accounts the Bigelow prototype is functioning extremely well. If subsequent test flights are as successful, the biggest problem Bigelow Aerospace is going to have is finding a ship to service their private space station.

They’re working on that.

“Private space station”.

I love the sound of that.